Mike and I got married on Saturday, May 28th at Cielo’s Garden in Steinbach, Manitoba and it was perfect.

The entire weekend still feels like a beautiful fairytale. I was prepared for something to go disastrously wrong, since every wedding advice column ever written warns of at least one thing going wrong on your wedding day, but nothing did.

We had a magical day filled with love, family, and friends and I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ll write some more concentrated posts about aspects of the wedding later when I get all of the pictures back since those types of posts helped me immensely during the planning phase.

We aren’t taking a honeymoon right away since Mike has a summer job with no vacation time until he goes back to school, so we were back in Regina and back to work on the Tuesday after the wedding. I could not believe how exhausted we were that entire week following the wedding! The wedding weekend took a lot out of us mentally, physically, and emotionally in the best way possible. I think we went to bed at 8:30pm most of those nights following the wedding and sleep like logs every night!

The week after the wedding also proved to be quite exciting since I found out I had gotten a position at work that I had interviewed for the week right before the wedding! It’s a step up on the old corporate ladder from where I am right now and comes with a lot more responsibility, time commitment, and of course a pay raise 🙂 That’s always a lovely thing to have in a single income household of newlyweds! I officially start at the end of June and will be transitioning someone new into my old position all summer so I will be one busy lady.

So between the wedding bliss and the new job news, we’ve been in a hyper state of happiness over here. And between the wedding, some friend birthdays and their wedding related events, and the job celebration, our home routine has been a bit delayed in getting back on track. There’s been a lot of meals out, celebratory drinks, and social stuff that we’ve been prioritizing over clean eating and fitness and I’m actually very okay with it! This summer is shaping up to be an extremely happy and busy one between work, weddings, and planned vacations, so we’re choosing to embrace it. We’re still eating clean when we can but we’re not kicking ourselves for meals out or workouts missed either.

I’m actually going to have to rethink my fitness goals for this summer since I’m currently fighting yet another injury. I woke up the weekend before the wedding with an intense pain in my neck and back and had very limited range of motion in my neck. It’s been present ever since that day and is extremely annoying. I thought I was better last week so I taught my usual Monday Zumba class and went to Orangetheory but that proved to be a huge mistake. Running is completely out of the picture as well as any plyometric exercise since jumping/bouncing is painful. And since the back, shoulders, and neck are kind of key to basically every weight exercise out there, it’s been next to impossible to maintain my previous fitness routine. I’ve been doing a lot of walking and stretching just to keep up some type of physical activity.

I’m the type of person who actually likes to workout and get a good sweat session in, so this injury in particular has been extremely frustrating. However, it’s been a good lesson in understanding my body and accepting it’s limits. I was 100% wrong to try and workout last week and am coming to terms with learning how to heal and rest! That’s a hard thing for me to learn since I freaking love to workout multiple times a week 🙂 So I’ll take this injury as one big rest session and learn to appreciate my workouts even more when I can get back into them. Bright side – I’m going to 1 massage session a week as part of my healing so I get to zen out for 1 hour regardless of what’s going on. That’s been amazing!

Blog Schedule

The months leading up to the wedding were hectic! I didn’t have a lot of time to blog and I actually missed writing. I know that I will have even less time to write with my new job and all our summer events that are happening but I want to aim to do 1 blog post a month. I will probably crank out a few wedding related ones when the pictures are done but I want to get back to writing about health, fitness, and general millennial ramblings.

In the meantime, you can always find me on social media – @freespiritedfit on every thing.

Sending all my love and light to you guys! I genuinely miss talking on here and am happy to be back at it.

Today is going to be a pretty great morning for me. I’m headed to what I hope is my LAST physio appointment for my hip injury (yay!) and then I’m off to try on bridesmaid dresses! The hip has been responding really well to the exercises I was given so fingers crossed it’s smooth sailing from here on out.

My hand injury is another story.

Remember when I disclocated my right pinky playing volleyball? Well it’s healed wrong and is all twisted, still swollen, and I do not have full range of motion, so I am now a patient in the rehab hand program here. It comes with some pretty sweet swag

Custom made splints to wear every night! Don’t be jealous. The therapist says these type of injuries can take a year to fully rehab so I better get used to having a terminator hand at night.

Things I’m Loving – March 2016

Don’t worry, I’ve got more than amazing looking finger splints for you on this month’s Things I’m Loving instalment. I’ve discovered a bunch of fun things this month and wanted to share the love.

I’ve been having a love affair with lipsticks lately. I love how dark shades look on all the beauty gurus I follow on insta, but my style isn’t really that bold IRL. Then I discovered that Sephora has this really awesome app that lets you virtually try on different shades to see how they’d potentially look. I LOVE this app because you could literally spend 7 days and 7 nights in Sephora looking at all their lip products. I wrote down some of the shades I liked using the app and went in store to seek them out. I came out with Beauty Bite’s Matte Creme Lip Crayon in Raspberry and it’s perfect for someone like me who wants to go a big bolder but not too cray. Plus, the style of a pencil makes it really easy to apply and re-apply. I also got Kat Von D’s Studded Lipstick in Wolvesmouth which I’ve used on nights I’ve felt real daring, not it’s not as versatile as my Beauty Bite shade.

Coffee Cocoa Face Mask

Another shout out to beauty gurus on insta! I remember flicking through insta one night and saw a post about using coffee grounds as a DIY face mask. Then I was home early from a serving shift and wanted to get the grossness off my face and decided to take a crack at it after some googling. Here’s the concoction I used:

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

4 tablespoons coffee grounds

8 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk

Juice from half a lemon (because my skin leans towards oily)

I mixed it all together, put the paste like solution on my face and let it dry. Then I took a hot wash cloth and gently removed it, making sure not to rub too hard since the grounds were a little too harsh to use as an exfoliant. My skin was so smooth and glowy after using this! I’ve keep the mixture in my fridge and will continue to use it 1-2 times a week.

I was looking for some choreo inspiration and stumbled on this video. INSTANTLY IN LOVE with everything – his choreo, attitude, backup dancers, and especially his commentary. “YOU’VE DROPPED THE DISHES” = me almost dying laughing. He’s got some really great videos on his channel if you’re into dance cardio. My faves so far are Dessert and Work and I can’t wait to check out more.

My lulu gift card from Christmas has been sitting patiently in my wallet, just waiting to be spent. Nothing had been catching my interest in the “oh what a pretty tank/sports bra” department so I put a call out on twitter for people’s favorite lulu leggings. Multiple people said the align pant and OMG I now agree full heartedly. The fabric is so butter smooth and not too tight…just perfect. I’ve gone outside the athleisure realm in these and worn them for an Orangetheory class and they help up under hard core sweat, running, rowing, and weights. Color me impressed.

My latest podcast obsession is CBC radio show called Someone Knows Something. The podcast host goes back to his hometown in Eastern Ontario to investigate the disappearance of 5 year old Adrian McNaughton. Adrian vanished on a fishing trip with his family in 1972 and they’ve never found a single trace of him. I’ve been describing it as the Canadian Serial to people since that’s basically the style of podcast they seem to be going for. I’m totally hooked and find myself listening to the newest episode the day is comes out. If you loved season 1 of Serial (let’s not talk about season 2…) or are into cold case/mysteries in general, I think you’ll really dig this.

How is it almost April already?! I think I literally blinked this month and POOF it was gone. The wedding countdown is still on (60 days!) and I’m on week 4 of my new training program.

Rolling out my tight leg muscles

I feel a positive change in my body and energy levels so far but the week 4 progress pictures I’ll be taking later this week will tell the truth. Either way, I’m digging this workout plan!

Easter came and went over here without too much over indulging.

This chocolate croissant was ON POINT.

In fact, my eating has been shockingly cleaning itself up on its own lately. I’m not sure what’s changed but my cravings have gone waaaaay down. Is this what adulting is?? Either way, I’m rolling with it.

I am wondering if it’s because we’ve switched over to a mainly vegetarian diet now, using tofu and tempeh in place of chicken and turkey. One of the driving factors for the switch was money. When we did our vegetarian experiment last year, I found that we saved a TON on groceries. Now that we are quickly approaching our wedding and other wedding related events over the course of the summer, I want to have a little bit more of a cushion for emergencies. One of my 2016 goals is to save money and I’m proud to say that I’ve been doing well on that front! Single income living is no fun so I want to make sure we have some breathing room to maintain some level of sanity in our lives.

Weekly Workout Schedule

Like I said above, I’m on week four of a new fitness program and with that comes workout tracking and planning! This week’s schedule looks like this:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: legs and cardio

Wednesday: Orangetheory fitness

Thursday: arms and abs

Friday: yoga

Saturday: full body workout

Sunday: run

The physio gave me some awesome hip exercises to try and correct and strengthen my left pelvic girdle. I’ve been taking it easy on the running ever since my hip starting giving me trouble so this week I want to slowly get back into running a steady distance. Fingers crossed it doesn’t give me any trouble!

It may take a few weeks for our weather to get the memo but it’s SPRING! I’m so looking forward to blooming flowers on my back porch, enjoying coffee outside, patio dinners, outdoor runs, and long days.

Until all that happens, I’m living for…

MARCH MADNESS!

This year was dubbed the Year of Upsets and MAN did the tournament ever deliver on that moniker. It’s been unreal to watch some of these games come down to the wire. Just last night there were 2 games that came down to the very last second! My bracket may be busted (RIP MSU) but I still enjoy watching every game. Best sports event ever!

New Year’s Goals Progress

In between basketball games, I crossed off this month’s new fitness class attempt as per my 2016 goal – HOT YOGA! This has been on my “try it” list for forever and I can finally check it off. I spotted a “hot yoga” sign in a strip mall near my neighbourhood and that made me finally decide to check it out. I went to the Hot Foundations class at Quan’s Hot Yoga and it was very different from what I thought it would be. I’m not sure if it’s the style of class I attended but I thought it was going to be more strenuous than it actually was. It felt more like a yin style class with some movement thrown in and in a 40 degree Celsius room.

And I really liked it!

I’ve been hitting Orangetheory hard lately and doing a weights program at home so my muscles really enjoyed the heated stretch session. The teacher was a little too out there for my taste (according to her, exhaling rapidly gets the bacteria and toxins out of your respiratory system….) but other than that it was really lovely. This particular studio offers an unlimited week pass for $25 so I will probably take advantage of that and check out other classes and teachers.

So far, I’m only 1 month behind on this “new fitness class/style of workout per month” goal. January was a write off for me with vacation and sickness but February and March have been on point for fitness. I’m currently 3 weeks into a new (to me) 12 week fitness plan that I’m digging. We’ll see how the results turn out and I’ll definitely review and share it with you guys!

It was so nice out that we actually got to run outside in one layer of clothing. That’s pretty much unheard of around here until early spring. It felt so good to get outside for a run. I’m a huge baby in the winter and take most of my runs indoors until it’s at least +10 outside so this weekend’s low teens temps were a godsend!

Things I’m Loving – January to February 2016

I can’t believe that it’s three months into the new year and I’ve yet to do a Things I’m Loving post! If you’re new around here, Things I’m Loving are posts that I (try to) post at the end of every month, highlighting trends, products, music, videos, or anything else that I’ve been digging over the last 30/31 days.

I found Adriene’s yoga youtube channel through her popular #YogaCamp January challenge. I participated in that challenge and totally loved how she structured and guided her videos. Adriene brings a relaxed feeling to yoga that I’ve never completely experienced in any other classes. Her motto, “find what feels good”, is such a nice attitude to have towards yoga. She’ll guide you through sequences and poses from beginner to advanced but never makes you feel inadequate even though she has fly yoga skills. Her videos are rough 30 minutes long which is long enough to get in a decent practice but short enough to squeeze in every day. I highly recommend starting with her #YogaCamp series!

If you’ve listened to enough podcasts, you’ve probably heard of Headspace. At least that’s how I discovered this lovely meditation app! The free version of this app gives you 10 sessions of 10 minute meditations aka Take 10. I’m currently halfway through the Take 10 program and it’s one of the better guided meditation tools I’ve used. I’ll typically meditate right before bed and this one relaxes me like WHOA. There aren’t any background noises or weird music, just Andy’s calming British voice de-stressing my brain. There are also a couple of animated videos explaining some of the concepts and why meditation works. Educational! You can subscribe if you want more Headspace sessions after Take 10 which I will probably do with one of my fave podcast’s discount code 😉

Too Faced Candlelight Glow Highlighting Powder Duo

After my free sample sized highlighter from Sephora ran out, I decided to take the Big Girl plunge and get a normal sized highlighter for my low-key every day contouring needs. After walking around Sephora for a solid 30 minutes (it’s basically the mothership), I decided on the Too Faced Candlelight Glow Highlighting Powder Duo. It completely lives up to its name! It gives my face a lovely rosy glow and brightens up my skin even on its dullest days. It’s not a highlighter I would use if you’re a heavy contourer, but it’s amazing for everyday use.

Morning Yogurt Bowls

Breakfast is something that I struggle to keep interesting. I like my sleep and if I wake up with some time to spare, I like to get a small workout or yoga flow in instead of cooking. Unless I’ve cooked a big batch of protein pancakes on Sunday, I usually just grab a piece of fruit and protein bar on the way to work. That’s not the best way to start your day, nutritionally speaking. Upon a re-read of my TIU nutrition plan, I found an option that’s quick and can easily change flavours – yogurt bowls! I take plain greek yogurt, sprinkle in some berries and granola and voila, breakfast. I’ve been changing up the fruit and flavour of granola every few weeks so I don’t get sick of the same thing every day.

Holiday Hunny HIIT

This is becoming my go-to workout when I’m looking for a last minute sweat session and have little to no equipment. I did this routine for the first time in Florida and fell in love! It works the whole body and gives you enough cardio and strength moves to make it a complete workout. I’m always sore the next day from this workout which is a sign of a good workout 😉

John Oliver Videos

I’ve only known John Oliver from his small role on Community and his Canadian video that went viral during our last federal election. I was looking to watch the Canadian election video again and stumbled on his whole YouTube channel which is full of solid gold videos. Standout videos for me – televangelists, abortion laws, Donald Trump, and sugar.

Seeing as we are a single income household and trying to pay for school and a wedding, I’m always on a lookout for budgeting tips. One of the greatest tools I’ve found so far is Danny J’s Find the Money Project. I did her free 14 day challenge and “found” a couple extra hundred a month to save by using her tips. Her tips are actually practical instead of the usual “stop buying coffee” tips you usually see and they make you take a look at your entire money situation instead of strictly expenditures.

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I'm Erin and I'm wildly obsessed with living a fun and healthy life. I like to jot down fitness, health, and personal stories about my life in Saskatchewan, Canada. Free Spirited Fitness is a place where being healthy is about enjoyment and living without labels.

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Please consult your medical professional before making any fitness and/or nutritional changes.

ALWAYS honor your body.

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